Coca Cola

Coke Agrees to Buy Stake in Australian Firm: Coca-Cola Co. would acquire at least 41% of a major Australian food and tobacco company, Amatil Ltd., under a proposed reorganization plan. The deal has been approved by the boards of Coke, Amatil and BAT Industries, which is Amatil's largest shareholder, but is subject to the approval of Amatil shareholders and Australian regulatory authorities. Under the proposal, Amatil would concentrate on its core business of snack foods and soft drinks and would spin off its tobacco interests into a new company.

In Sunday's sports section, Ross Newhan quoted Brave General Manager John Schuerholz as having endorsed baseball's realignment and playoff structure because 54% of fans polled favored it. If memory serves me right, this is the same percentage that liked the new Coca-Cola better than the old. What Coca-Cola failed to take into account was that the 46% who didn't like the new taste switched to something else. Can we look forward to "Classic Baseball?" DAVID LITTLE Los Angeles

Three people have been arrested and charged with stealing confidential information about drink recipes from Coca-Cola Co. and trying to sell it to rival PepsiCo Inc., federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The suspects include an executive administrative assistant at Atlanta-based Coke, Joya Williams, who is accused of stuffing documents and a new Coca-Cola product into a personal bag. Williams, 41, of Norcross, Ga.

Coca-Cola said Tuesday that it will spend about $1.4 billion to acquire the bottling operations of JTL Corp., the oldest and largest of the soft drink's independent bottlers. The purchase--the largest in Coke's history--together with the bottling operations already owned by Coke and those it agreed to purchase June 16 from Beatrice Cos., will mean that the soft-drink maker will produce 31% of the all Coke sold in cans and bottles in the United States. The company will also become the largest U.

Coca-Cola said Tuesday that it plans to raise $750 million in cash by selling some financial assets from its entertainment businesses so that it can reinvest the money in higher return areas within its Columbia Pictures unit and other operations. The Atlanta-based company said the "entertainment receivables" consist largely of the future rights to television and theatrical projects owned by Columbia.

Allow me to preface this letter by stating that Coca-Cola is miserable stuff. Left standing in a glass for a few days, "The Real Thing" (Old or New) will disintegrate a tenpenny nail. Imagine what Coke can do to teeth and a stomach. Coke's qualities are not, however, the major concern of this letter. I am concerned with how the Coca-Cola Co. played the consuming public for dupes. Unlike the picture of consumer victory painted by The Times editorial (July 12), "Glug!," Coca-Cola was not "forced" by outraged consumers into reintroducing Old Coke.

It's an environmental as well as a marketing achievement: using 100% agricultural waste to make a top-quality plastic bottle that can then be placed back in the existing recycling system. "It's closing the loop," said Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It's the beginning of the end for petroleum-based plastic bottles. " PepsiCo announced Tuesday that it had "cracked the code," inventing what it calls the world's first plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources.

The Coca-Cola Co. would acquire at least 41% of a major Australian food and tobacco company, AMATIL Ltd., under a reorganization plan announced today. The deal has been approved by the boards of Coke, AMATIL and B.A.T. Industries, which is AMATIL's largest shareholder, but is subject to the approval of AMATIL shareholders and Australian regulatory authorities. Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the reorganization, AMATIL would concentrate on its core business of snack foods and soft drinks and would spin off its tobacco interests into a new company.

A man who changed his name to Coke-Is-It because his old one was frequently mispronounced has reached an agreement with the Coca-Cola Co., which holds a trademark on the advertising slogan, the company said today. Frederick Koch, 54, of West Brattleboro, Vt., changed his name legally to Coke-Is-It in November, saying he was tired of hearing people pronounce his name as "Kotch" or "Cook." Coca-Cola filed an appeal in Windham (Vt.